Shipyard's cradle to grave submarine maintenance critical to the Navy

Shipyard's cradle-to-grave submarine maintenance critical to the Navy

By Max Maxfield, PSNS & IMF Public Affairs

During a recent visit to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility, the Program Executive Officer for Strategic Submarines, Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, visited with the project teams for USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735), USS Ohio (SSGN 726), and USS Chicago (SSN 721).

While here, he learned how the teams working on submarines at PSNS & IMF face constant challenges and continually solve problems to ensure that work is completed to standard as quickly and safely as possible. Weeks made it clear during his visit, the maintenance, repair and modernization work - and even the retirement of submarines - is of critical importance to the Navy.

"We highlighted for him the recent successes that our team had as we finished some of our major evolutions," said Josh Fleming, USS Ohio (SSGN 726) project superintendent for the maintenance period Ohio is expected to complete later this year.

Fleming said keeping Ohio, the Navy's oldest submarine, working is often challenging, due to a lack of replacement parts. This shortage forces PSNS & IMF to either reverse-engineer or re-manufacture parts or conduct extensive repairs on existing parts that are coming off the boat.

"The team urgently worked through a couple significant materiel condition failures and minimized the overall impact to the availability," Fleming said. "[Rear Adm. Weeks] appreciated the work the project team - PSNS & IMF workers and ship's force - had completed thus far. He said he was encouraged that we were close to returning USS Ohio back to the fleet."

Rod Peeler, the project superintendent overseeing the Inactivation Availability for USS Chicago (SSN 721), showed a cradle system which was recently engineered to maintain the boat in an upright position to Weeks during the visit.

"Rear Adm. Weeks was impressed with the engineering, size and effort by the shops involved, to get the cradles installed," Peeler said. "We are proud of what we do in the inactivation of nuclear submarines. The seismic concerns and requirements have created a lot of unexpected schedule delays, but we will learn from them and get better so we can get ship's force Sailors back to the fleet as quickly as possible."

Both Peeler and Fleming said they value the efforts of their team members, and expressed their gratitude to Weeks during his visit.

"The work we do is very important to the Navy, the community and the nation," Peeler said. "We ensure the safe inactivation and the environmentally responsible disposal of our Navy's nuclear submarine fleet."

Fleming also highlighted the significance of his teammates' work.

"The importance of the people here at PSNS & IMF cannot be overstated," Fleming said. "Getting USS Ohio back to sea performing its mission is of profound importance to the Navy and to our national security strategy. It would be impossible to maintain our submarines without the efforts and dedication of the expert maintainers here."